Britain refuses to apologise

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The British government has dismissed calls for it to apologise
for its role in the removal of thousands of indigenous Australian
children from their families.

Britain had been urged by prominent human rights lawyer Geoffrey
Robertson to endorse an apology delivered by Australian Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd because English intellectuals had inspired the
policy of seizing the children.

But the British government is refusing to follow Rudd's lead in
saying sorry to the stolen generations.

"The apology offered in the Australian parliament is a matter
for the Australian people and addresses laws and policies of
successive Australian parliaments and governments," a British
Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

Robertson had argued Britain bore a "heavy historic
responsibility" for the stolen generations and needed to
apologise.

He said the policy of removing indigenous children from their
families was based on the theories of English eugenics
intellectuals, who believed aboriginality to be a degenerate trait
and should be bred out.

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1202760431518-smh.com.auhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/world/britain-refuses-to-apologise/2008/02/14/1202760431518.htmlsmh.com.auAAP2008-02-14Britain refuses to apologiseWorldhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/world/britain-urged-to-back-rudds-apology/2008/02/13/1202760345971.htmlBritain urged to back Rudd's apologytext/html-document